More
than 110 Serbian Orthodox churches were destroyed or severely damaged
after the war in Kosovo, despite the
presence of the UN Mission and NATO led peacekeepers. Such an enormous
level of peace-time destruction of Christian culture is a unique example
in the history of peace missions and is a hard blow to the peacekeeping
efforts of the international community. Although Serbian Orthodox Church
strongly opposed the war and even gave shelter to Kosovo Albanian refugees
it has been severely targeted after the war in an attempt to blot out
centuries
old traces of Serb Christian culture in what is now predominantly Moslem
Albanian inhabited part of Serbia
(PHOTO: Holy Trinity church in Petric, near Pec).

The international
community's decision to keep protective checkpoints around Serb places
of worship may not be enough to appease the clergy, who insist damaged
churches are repaired and those who've vandalised them punished.

Tension has been
growing for some months between the Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC, on
the one hand and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, and the
NATO-led peacekeepers KFOR, on the other.

And the January
23 decision to suspend plans to remove checkpoints around endangered
churches and monasteries in the protectorate is being seen as an attempt
to improve relations between the two.

But while SPC spokesperson
Father Sava of Decani monastery described the development as an "encouraging
sign", he told IWPR that it won't solve the problems facing Kosovo's
Serb minority.

There have been
more than 100 attacks on Orthodox sites and artifacts during the past
three years - and the SPC blames the international community for the
fact that none of the destroyed buildings have been rebuilt.

After Serb forces
withdrew from Kosovo in June 1999, there were a series of attacks on
Orthodox churches in revenge for the 218 mosques destroyed during the
conflict between the Yugoslav army and the Kosovo Liberation Army.

These attacks decreased
after the first few months of peace, as UNMIK and the NATO-led peacekeepers
KFOR began to control the situation with round-the-clock patrols to
protect remaining churches.

The decision to
scale down this level of protection was made in May of last year. UNMIK
chief Michael Steiner announced that as the general security situation
had improved, KFOR checkpoints in villages and around church buildings
would be reduced and gradually removed.

There would still
be 24-hour protection for churches more than a century old, but others
- mostly built during the reign of Slobodan Milosevic as a symbol of
Serb domination - would no longer be watched.

KFOR spokesperson
Tony Adams explained that the May decision was made after long consideration
of the protectorate's security situation. "When criminals know
that KFOR is always in one place, they will avoid that area. But there
will be no place to hide from our mobile patrols," he said.

But the SPC warned
that every building left would be vulnerable unless they're constantly
monitored. "We are convinced that KFOR's permanent presence can
prevent further attacks on these churches, which are situated in areas
where there are no more Serbs," said Father Sava. "Even damaged
buildings would be in danger of repeated destruction without such protection."

The SPC cites the
destruction in November of Ljubovo's Church of St Vasilije Ostroski
and the vandalism of the Church of All Saints in Djurakovac as a direct
consequence of the KFOR decision.

After repeated requests
from the Serb clergy, KFOR agreed to keep monuments of cultural and
historical significance - and those used for religious purposes - under
close watch.

But this is not enough to appease the SPC, which has repeatedly stated
that such buildings are disused only because the Serb population was
forced out of the area - and that leaving the churches without protection
would send a negative message to the displaced population.

Although satisfied
with KFOR's decision to retain the checkpoints, the SPC believes that
the situation will not change until UNMIK and KFOR begin legal proceedings
against those who carry out such attacks, and make an effort to rebuild
the damaged buildings.

Democratic Party
of Kosovo, PDK, deputy Bajram Rexhepi has spoken out against the events
in Djurakovac and Ljubovo, calling for "the criminals who destroyed
the churches be found and arrested" - but so far, nobody has been
charged with these or any other attacks.

"We understand
that the UNMIK has its hands tied because the Albanians do not dare
to testify, and it also does not want to bring itself into conflict
with extremists," Father Sava told IWPR. "But everything is
known in Kosovo and no one has the courage to publicly identify the
perpetrators."

UNMIK police spokesperson
Derek Chapell told IWPR that investigations into the attacks are continuing.
"The biggest problem is that all such attacks are on abandoned
churches, so we only learn of them after a certain time has passed.
That makes it almost impossible to establish the time of the incident
- and therefore identify those responsible," he said.

For the moment, the SPC still feels that it does not have any support
from UNMIK and KFOR in its bid to rebuild the vandalised buildings.

Father Sava cited
the destruction, in the summer of 1999, of the 14th century Zociste
monastery as an example.

Bishop Artemije,
PDK leader Hasim Taqi and John Menzies, chief of the American office
in Pristina, visited the site in spring 2002 and agreed that work could
go ahead.

The SPC put funds
in place, but the plan collapsed after a group of local Albanians attacked
an Orthodox group who had gathered for a special service in the middle
of July. The remains of the monastery were then set on fire.

After the incident,
KFOR apparently refused to provide 24-hour protection as requested -
claiming that doing so in a predominantly Albanian area would provoke
tensions. The reconstruction project has now been shelved.

===================================

http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-01/27/327520.html

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

Coordinating Centre
denounces bus stoning

January 27, 2003

Belgrade, Jan 27,
2003 - The Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija condemned in the
harshest terms the stoning of a bus carrying a group of displaced Serbs
back to central Serbia after their visit to a cemetery in Vucitrn on
Sunday.

The Centre said
the following in a statement: "Considering that this was the first
visit to the Vucitrn cemetery after two and a half years, it is obvious
that these barbarous attacks were carried out with the main goal of
bringing unrest and increasing fear, and thus undermining the determination
of the Serb and other non-Albanian population to return to Kosovo-Metohija.

"The Coordinating
Centre urges representatives of the international community to prevent
similar incidents from taking place in the future and to start creating
conditions for the return of all displaced persons to Kosovo-Metohija,"
it is said in the statement.

========================================

INETA
SERB BEATEN BY KOSOVO ALBANIANS

January 28, 2003

Three ethnic Albanians
beat up and robbed Nenad Ilic, a Serb, who was returning home after
work in northern Kosovska Mitrovica at about 9 p.m yesterday (Jan 27).Serb
sources said that Ilic, who is a butcher and was returning home after
work, had been attacked by three ethnic Albanians near the house of
his cousin Jova Ilic, at which unidentified perpetrators threw a bomb
a month ago. The attackers beat up Ilic, took his jacket with all his
personal documents and his mobile phone and ran away.

FONETCoordination Center Condemns Attack on Kosovo Serb in Mitrovica

Belgrade, January
28, 2003

Coordination center
for Kosovo and Metohija condemned the attack on Nenad Ilic in Kosovska
Mitrovica. "This attack is one among a series of dangerous provocations
which have the goal to distabilize interethnic relations. We request
from the representatives of the international community to implement
commitments stipulated by the UN SC Resolution 1244 and provide security
for all citizens in Kosovo and Metohija", it is said in the Communique
of the Coordination Center. Nenad Ilic was attacked on Monday evening
in Bosniak mahala, the north part of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Information
Service of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren
Kosovo and Metohija